Well, Porcupine Tree returned to Boulder and sold-out the Fox Theater for the first time themselves. Actually the show sold-out weeks in advance. Great to see this band getting the attention I think they deserve. Thankfully we purchased our tickets the week they went on sale...had a hunch this show would sell-out. I saw their first performance at the Fox in 2002(PHOTOS HERE). It was a free show and there was about 50 of us there. It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Well five years later PT kicked-ass once again. They have played the Fox three other times since and every show was great, but his one definitely was a standout.
I got to the theater around 5:40 in hopes of getting a decent spot in line so some friends and I could snag some of the few bench seats in the theater. Well, it payed off as I was about the 20th person in line. Bandmate Scott also showed-up early and we downed some tasty burritos and waited for our other friends to show up. The two-and-a-half hour wait was worth it. We got decent spots in the theater with a somewhat high vantage point. When The Fox is sold out its hard to see the stage. We lucked out.
First up was the 5-piece Woodstock, NY band "3"(MySpace). They did a great opening set as their music was a nice blend of rock, metal, folk, prog and jazzy elements. They were very tight for sure. I especially enjoyed the last two tunes they did from a yet to be released CD. Best opening act for PT we've seen that's for sure. There's some pics of them here.
Porcupine Tree came on a little after 10:00 and proceeded to blow the roof off the place. They performed the entire Fear Of A Blank Planet album with a nice mix of tunes from their last 6 albums. Steven Wilson seemed in very good spirits, except he did jokingly make a comment about it just being us old folk here tonight as the show was 21 and over. Guess he wanted to have some younger fans in the audience. Can't blame him for wanting to expose their music to the next generation of fans. I hear some other shows around the country are all ages.
Anyway, the sound was very good. I brought earplugs because the last two PT shows were extremely loud...too loud really and the mixes weren't great either. Not the case here. Of course one could nit-pick about the mix here and there, but overall I found it pretty well balanced, especially for our position which was off to the left side of the theater.
Here's the set list:
Fear of a Blank Planet
Lightbulb Sun
My Ashes
Anesthetize
Open Car
Gravity Eyelids
Drown With Me
Sentimental
Blackest Eyes
Half Light
Sever
Way Out Of Here
Sleep Together
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Encore: A Smart Kid (Even Less was on the set list but they substituted this as a request from some guy who apparently has been following them on the tour)
Mother and Child Divided
Halo.
Absent from the show though was their projections. Found out later that they couldn't get them to work properly. It was OK though in that the music and lighting was enough.
After the show I managed to get Richard Barbieri's set list. I headed out to the bus in hopes of at least thanking the band for coming to Colorado again and maybe asking Steven if they'd consider playing Denver. Face it, they've outgrown Boulder and I think they need to do a show at one of the fine theaters in Denver. Maybe they could do both cities. Many bands do. Out by the bus I ran into good friend and major PT fan Robert, who heads up the PT street team in Colorado. We waited for about an hour and got to chat a little with Wes. Eventually all the band members came by, but it was obvious they didn't want to talk much because of being tired, but they signed all the stuff the 7-8 of us had (thanks for having that Sharpie Robert). I did manage to ask Steven if they might play Denver and he indicated it could happen and commented it would be nice to have the "kids" attend the show. Yeah , I think he may have not liked the 21 and over situation...pure speculation on my part though. I asked if they are coming back in the Fall and he said yes. Cool.
By then it was about 1:30am and I headed home, listening to the Porcupine Tree 2007 setlist playlist on my iPod after a very satisfying evening. Got home about 2:00...finally fell asleep about 2:30 ( I couldn't get the tune Sleep Together out of my head)...that alarm came rather early, but it was well worth it. I had to be at work at 8:00 the next morning...well I told my manager I'd probably be a little late and I showed-up at 8:30.
I have a couple albums of photos. One is of friends and crowd shots with some digital movies...HERE. The other is a collection of Porcupine Tree during the show. Taking pics was a challenge in that I had to usually shoot above, through or around people in front of me. Couldn't really change the vantage point much at all. Got a few decent ones I feel. Enjoy! Feel feel to sign the guest books and check out some of the other albums. Thanks.
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